- Ben Sulayem pushes to scrap the FIA’s 12-year presidential term limit.
- A nomination technicality blocked every rival candidate at his last election.
- Supporters back the change; critics warn of unchecked, indefinite one-man rule.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem wants to lead the world motorsport’s governing body without a time limit. The FIA president has proposed scrapping the rule that caps a president’s tenure at 12 years.
A vote on the change is scheduled for the FIA General Assembly in Macau on 26 June, and it is widely expected to pass.
Under the current rules, an FIA president serves four-year terms and can be re-elected a maximum of twice. Ben Sulayem wants to replace that ceiling. The term limit was introduced by his predecessor, Jean Todt, who served three consecutive terms before leaving in 2021.
Ben Sulayem is already entitled to run for a third term under the existing rules. He would be 69 at that election. The proposed change would go further than simply allowing him one more term: it would remove any fixed upper limit on how long he could serve.
The rule Ben Sulayem wants to rewrite
The FIA issued a statement when asked about the proposal.
“A proposal has been put forward to establish a consistent approach to tenure across all FIA bodies, similar to what currently exists for the world councils and the senate,” a spokesperson told the BBC. The statement provided no direct explanation for why the presidential term limit needed to be eliminated.
The governing body also pointed to the NFL’s Roger Goodell, who has served as commissioner since 2006, as an example of long-term leadership working.
The comparison drew immediate scepticism. Goodell answers to the NFL’s team owners, not to a membership-based international federation. The two structures are fundamentally different.
The proposal also tightens the entry conditions for future presidential candidates. Combined with the hurdles that recent challengers have already faced, critics say the role risks becoming practically unreachable for any genuine opposition.
How he got here: an election with no real competition
Ben Sulayem’s re-election in December was itself a source of significant controversy. He ran unopposed, after a technicality in the FIA’s nomination rules blocked his rivals from completing their candidacies.
The rules required every presidential candidate to name vice presidential representatives from all of the FIA’s global regions.
The only approved candidate for South America, Fabiana Ecclestone, had already pledged her support to Ben Sulayem. That made it impossible for any challenger to meet the requirement.
Carlos Sainz Sr. and former F1 steward Tim Mayer had both attempted to stand. After withdrawing, Mayer described the process plainly.
“There will be a formal vote, but it will be for only one candidate,” he said. “This is no longer a democratic process when choice is replaced by control.”
Laura Villars, another would-be candidate, took legal action against the FIA over the nomination rules.
Ben Sulayem made no apologies for wanting more time in the role. “I feel having three years in a complex federation like the FIA is not enough,” he said after his re-election. “Do I need more time? Yes.”
He also framed his continued presidency in financial terms, questioning why a single Formula 1 driver and a single team principal each earn more than the entire FIA, despite the FIA owning the championship.
The FIA’s curious defence
The NFL comparison was not the only part of the FIA’s response that raised eyebrows. When BBC Sport pressed the governing body to explain the specific case for removing presidential term limits, the spokesperson did not directly answer the question.
The FIA’s statement framed the proposal as a matter of consistency across its various bodies. Critics noted that framing sidesteps the most important question: why the person at the top should face fewer checks on their tenure, not more.
Ben Sulayem is understood to have strong support among smaller member organisations within the FIA’s global structure. That backing is a significant reason why the proposal is expected to clear the vote in Macau.
A turbulent tenure under the spotlight
The debate over term limits has arrived during a presidency that has attracted sustained criticism on multiple fronts.
Ben Sulayem’s crackdown on driver language in FIA press conferences drew one of the more public rebukes of his tenure. Charles Leclerc was fined, and Max Verstappen received a community service order for swearing.
The Grand Prix Drivers Association responded with an open letter, asking to be treated like adults.
In the rally competition, the pushback took a different form. The World Rally Drivers Alliance was set up after driver Adrien Fourmaux was fined, and during the 2025 Safari Rally Kenya, drivers staged a silent protest, either refusing to speak in interviews or speaking only in their native language.
Inside the FIA itself, multiple senior officials have left or been removed during Ben Sulayem’s time in charge. Critics have also pointed to changes made to the FIA’s statutes under his watch, arguing that those changes have weakened the independence of the audit and ethics committees.
Ben Sulayem’s supporters counter that continuity in leadership brings stability. His critics warn that removing term limits concentrates power in one individual without any institutional check on how long that power can be held.
The vote in Macau on 26 June will settle the immediate question. What it will not settle is the longer one: what kind of institution the FIA is choosing to be.
